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Zodiac Wheel at the Galactic Centre of the VLZ (Victoria Landscape Zodiac)

Just finished laying out a Zodiac Wheel patio in our backyard and wanted to share the results.

See details below.

The design came to me one night while I was out ‘meditating’ in the backyard, under the starry sky. Drew a rough draft and it turned out that our old patio had the exact number of patio stones necessary to make this design. Created a more accurate drawing on the computer to get the exact size and layout (above).

Measured to find the centre of our yard and drove a metal rod into the ground from which to take all other measurements. It turned out that we had just enough room to layout the design in our small yard. Dug out the grass and sifted the soil beneath for pebbles and rocks to be used later.

Built a wooden dodecagon (12 sided) frame around the perimeter of the circle to be used for measuring and leveling the soil.

Made a wooden screed which sat on the dodecagon frame and was attached to the metal rod in the centre. Placed several patio stones on the screed for weight and made a rope harness with which to pull the screed around the circle. Sorry no action photos. Screed the soil so that there is about a 1 1/2″ drop from the centre to the edges for water run off. Note the pile of sifted pebbled and patio stones in the top right corner.

With the soil leveled, took a blue tarp (that was destined for the dump and just happened to be the size needed) and stretched it out over the soil to assist water run off and prevent the growth of weeds. Attached a piece of string to the metal rod to assist with placing the patio stones at correct distances and angles.

Several rainy days and nights under canopy tent and tarps sifting soil for pebbles, scrubbing and placing patio stones. Note sifting and patio stone washing table in the bottom right corner.

Patio stone layout complete. Cut off the excess blue tarp and added ropes around the perimeter and centre circle.